first week in Boston

the first week in Boston was great- mom was here with me, and it still felt like I was on vacation. we stayed in hotels- first in Saugus (about 20 minutes from Boston...because it was the best deal), then at a nicer place on the river in Cambridge, just across the river from downtown.

 As a new Boston citizen, one of my first acts was to get my library card at the Boston Public Library. i know, it's a pretty glamorous life i live. mom thought it would be fun to go on a 2 hour walking tour of the city, which i disagreed with, but ended up really enjoying. we learned lots of stuff about boston...did you know how much history is here? it's crazy!  stuff like, the Back Bay (my 'hood) was all filled in with dirt from some hills and dirt hauled in on trains for 40 years...before that, it was an actual bay, filled with water. also, there's lots of cemeteries in Boston. i even saw Mother Goose's tombstone- you didn't even know she was real, did you? yeah, me either. during our walking tour we learned the story of the Boston Massacre. I learned that a crowd of rowdy protesters armed with snowballs got out of hand and started throwing rock-filled snowballs. This led a man in the back of the crowd to yell, "Fire!", intending to disband the crowd and send them running for safety. 

The unfortunate result was that soilders with guns in the front of the crowd mistook  this outcry for an order from the liutenant General, and they fired into the crowd, killing 5 people. 

the point is not to give a history lesson. 

anyway, a few days later, my mom and i were walking around and I asked her what she thought of Boston. she said something about it being too big for her, yada yada... and I pointed out what a rich history this place has- how cool it was that we stood in the exact spot of the Boston Massacre. to this poignant point, she replied, " Psshh- 5 people died. what kinda massacre is that, anyway?!"  you know that moment when you realize that your parent may not be as compassionate as you always thought- when you learn they have a dark place in their soul...it was kinda like that.  heartless comments aside, i still think she's pretty great. 

when we were walking through Beacon Hill (where the "old money" is in Boston), not far from John Kerry's house, we found some little doors- I think they used to lead to wood cellars or something- that were just her size. 

it was a great week with mom, and she left the morning of my first day at work. we took this picture when I dropped her off at the airport. little did i know the adventures that the next few weeks would hold...

Trading Spaces...it's truly a whole new world

It didn't take long to realize that I'm going to have to adjust to much more than a 3 hour time difference between Portland and Boston. I've been learning lots and am starting to get used to some new ways in my new world. Here is a list of some things I've traded: 

~The tram for the T

~Starbuck's on every corner for Dunkin' Donuts (coffee, that is) on every corner

~NW 23rd for Newbury St.

~ideas for idears

~parking the car for pahking the cah...for that matter, a free driveway for a $200/mo tandem parking spot

~2500 sq ft house with 3 floors for a 600ish sq ft "super studio" and 3 rooms (including the kitchen and bathroom)

~School and work a 5 min walk apart (and on the same campus) for school and work a 4-5 hr bus ride away (in different states)

~Mt Hood for...ok, there's no mountains in Boston. but we've got the Boston Commons.

~the Willamette River for the Charles River

~I-5 for the Mass Pike (I-90)

~Free road travel for toll roads

~everyone i know for about 3 people i knew when i moved here (although there is a place here where everybody knows your name)

~No local sport teams worthy of fanfare for the Red Sox, the Celtics, and the Patriots...championship teams, and we've the the Green Monstah, too!

~The sunset for the sunrise (over the ocean, that is)

~Walking on the Oregon coast wearing a hoodie and jeans (for free) for paying $5 to go to the beach on the Eastern shore in shorts and a swimsuit

~Sunriver for Cape Cod

~"way" for "wicked" (meaning very, as in wicked cold)

~DCH for CHB (aka The Children's Hospital)

This is not a complete list, but you get the picture. I feel I should elaborate on a few of the items listed above...

There's a completely different language here, including some of the examples I noted above... apparently there's not even time to speak in complete words...then there's the Bostonian dialect of English. 

In case I pick up some of the local way of speaking, here are some translations so I will still be understood by my peeps in other parts of the world.

~The tea from the famous Boston tea party is no longer as important to the common day Bostonian as the "T"- which is short for train- the Boston subway system. I take the green line to and from work most days (except when I'm running late...then I take the City Cab). 

~Names of streets and highways are also shortened: Massachusetts Avenue is Mass Ave., Commonwealth Avenue is Comm Ave, and the Massachusetts Turnpike is the Mass Pike. It's amazing how much more free time now that I don't speak in complete words-who knew?!

 ~One of my greatest disappointments in life in Boston, and something that I will never understand, is why lots of people here seem to prefer 

(brace yourselves) Dunkin' Donuts "coffee" to Starbucks... and it's really hard to find a local coffee house around here. it's so weird- and DD coffee totally blows! i did actually try it before i decided it was fair to hate. it's like water compared to the real thing...it's just not right. fortunately, the nearest Starbucks to my house is only 3 blocks away, and

 there's one across the street from the Children's Hospital, and one just across the street from my subway stop at school. so no worries, i can still get my 'Bucks whenever i need a fix.

For the first time in my life, I paid money to go to the beach. My first Boston friend (and one of my favorites), Whitney, and I took a 40 min. ride on the commuter rail to the Singing Beach at the end of August. We walked about a mile before I saw the ocean. Then i saw something else- something i'd never seen before. a girl sitting at a table, charging people $5 to go to the beach- wtf?!

 the first thing i thought was that my mom would be horrified, and would say that it's criminal...i was right about that. apparently this is common along the Eastern Seaboard, but it will take a very long time for me to get used to paying to spend the day on the sand. i moved past it, though, and discovered a few things I really enjoy about the beach here. The sun shines regularly, and people actually swim in the ocean. It wasn't warm, but at least my toes didn't turn blue in the water. 

So, some trades are good, some not so good, and some neither good nor bad... the bottom line is- I know I'm in exactly the space I belong right now, and i wouldn't trade it for anything.

First 100 days (give or take) in office

Well, I'm sure everyone is shocked that I had a 3 month lapse in my blog posting. :) Of course, I had good intentions of posting much more often, but I guess I've been a little busy and the months have flown by. I promised myself that I would post again before the first snow. Luckily, I'm the only flake in sight, but not for long, so it's time to catch you all up on the first 3 months of my life in New England. I'll break it down into a few posts, or it would be one insanely long entry. sorry for the delay....now here's some stories you've all been waiting for............

moving days part deux- no sleep till Brooklyn, er, Boston!

Wednesday:

after a good night sleep in a real bed, we left at 8:30 to go meet Uncle Emery, Aunt Sharon, and Kade & Natalie (Kody & Jill's kids) for breakfast at the Amana Colonies (if you know her, you'd get that this was totally aunt sharon's idea). apparently it was "right off the freeway"...or 20 miles or something. i have never seen so much food in my life- it was a breakfast feast...and i'm pretty sure the lady serving us was headed to the set of Little House on the Prairie after she was done working the morning shift at this restaurant. it was delicious, and fun to hang out with the fam a little more. aunt sharon gave me a really sweet gift- a prayer shawl made by some of the women in their church. she said that when i'm lonely, it should remind me that i'm loved. aww.... also, it's super soft, and we all know how much i dig things that are soft or shiny.

today was the day mom referred to as the old macdonald day- why? well, because she's super punny. yep, it was the 3I, 3I, O day (that is Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio).

she was incredibly proud of herself for coming up with that one- picture her giggling at herself for about 5 minutes...and I think she was kinda pissed at me for screwing it up by making it to Pennsylvania and New York today. oh well, i'll let her enjoy her pun anyway. :) 

little known road trip fact- there are many kinds of rest areas. oh yes, some very close to each other, some very, very inconveniently far apart. some are just places to pull over- no bathroom (that's helpful!- well, maybe it is if you're Chris, who pulls over 5 times between Nampa, Idaho and Salem). well, did you know there are also "modern" rest areas. at first, i thought it was just referring to the kind that actually had bathrooms and vending machines...oh no, my friends, modern rest areas have wireless internet! who knew?! i didn't actually experience this one, but i was impressed, nonetheless.

there was a beautiful sunset behind us, somewhere in Ohio, i think. mom was freaking out that i was trying to take a picture of it while i was driving, so she decided she'd just pop her head out the moonroof to get a good shot...damn trucks! u get the idea- and maybe she was going for the artistic look of the reflection off the roof of the car. also, she almost lost the camera, due to the intense winds at 80 mph- and she thinks i'm unsafe!

for those of you counting how many places we were today, don't stop there...yep, we conquered 6 U.S. states today- mostly consisting of more corn and soybean fields (see pic above), but i wasn't satisfied with that. what the hell- let's go to Canada (or Canadia, if you're denessa)! it was 12:30 a.m.-ish when we hit Buffalo, NY. i figured we were too close to not visit Niagra Falls, especially since neither of us had been before.

by the time we found a place to park and go walk to the falls it was late- 1:12, or so (just a guess).  if you've ever wondered what Niagra Falls looks like at night (from the US side), you needn't wonder any more...

 i took a picture. just use your imagination a little, and i'm sure you can see the waterfall on the left, with Toronto on the right.

 if not, take my word for it- it was pretty, even in the dark. thanks to some more wisdom from grandma, who said the falls are much prettier on the canada side, we found our passports and decided to crash in Toronto (not Ottawa, as mom repeatedly referred to it) for the night. 

since it was late, and we planned on getting up early- and since it's us- we thought it would be a good idea to just sleep in the car...in the parking lot of a casino hotel.  just as we're getting ready to go to sleep (around 2 am), a guy pulls in right across from us. I told mom to stay down- I mean, how embarrassing to have some random guy we'll never see again see us sleeping in the car. haha- nope, he did the same thing. and just in case you don't believe me, i took a picture (i know you're shocked).  so we called it a night...in the car, in a hotel parking lot...

Thursday: 

so, apparently Niagra Falls is more magnificent in the daylight. mom dragged me out of bed (aka, the passengers seat) before starbucks was open...okay, it was 6:30, but apparently Canadian Starbucks don't open early.

 

we walked around for a while and took some (okay, a lot) of pictures of the falls, most of which look very similar. eventually, i found an open starbucks, which made me very happy.

 and then, i made a great discovery. i have yet to find evidence of its

 existence anywhere else (even google). my best guess is that the animal kingdom has some saying like, "what happens in Toronto, stays in Toronto." well, i guess they weren't expecting an observant tourist to catch a photo of the illegitimate product of their crazy night in Canada... ladies and gentlemen, the squnk!- its what happens when a skunk and a squirrel have too much to drink, and let things go too far. let this serve as a warning...

many hours, many miles...tired, but not deterred...after all, we're kinda hardcore, and almost there! :) we left toronto around 8:30 a.m., but thanks to the locals sending us on a wild goose chase down some street named Sodom (really!), it took almost an hour (and a few f-bombs- sorry, mom!) 

before we made it back U.S. soil. apparently, i was mistaken when i thought all of the states in the NE were small- New York is very big. Upstate NY is really pretty- it was the most green I'd seen since we left Oregon.  then, sometime in the early afternoon, i saw the most beautiful thing i'd seen in 3 days- a freeway sign that said -->New York/Boston! that meant we were close- very close... and that was all i needed to get me through the next few hours. it might not have been the best idea to wait to pee till we got there. i mean, i held it, but it was about 4 hours after i first thought i needed to go until i actually did- thanks, Boston, for being a parking nightmare! 

we finally made it, and nobody in our wagon died of dysentery or exhaustion, or snakebites...or anything else. before we did anything else, i took mom to see my apartment (or at least the outside of it). she pretended to be impressed, which was sweet. we had some dinner at a cool pub in Cambridge before we finally found a place to rest. i feel like i just found my Promised Land....or maybe it's just a Red Roof Inn in Saugus. either way, it had a bed, and that was all i wanted... and mom- she got to watch more Olympics. 

Road Trip Totals:

-Hours from door to door: 73 1/2

-Actual miles: just a little over 3200

-McDonald's Grilled Asian Chicken salads eaten (each): 3... i think

-Times mom yelled at me to stop taking pictures while I was driving: too many to count

moving days part 1- it's like oregon trail, only backwards

road trip crew: pilot- Me, co-pilot- Mom

start time: Monday, 8/11 @ 1030 a.m.(PST), that's 130 p.m.(EST)

starting location: Taylors Ferry house, Portland,

destination: Beacon St apartment, Boston, MA

basic route: I-84 E --> I-80 E --> I-90 E

          estimated mileage: 3093 miles

unlike the pioneers who traveled the original Oregon Trail, I set out with my mom to 

dominate the entire country- not just part of it...oh, and ours started in Oregon, instead of finishing there. however, i now feel a kinship to those who endured the hardships of a long journey- i can't imagine traveling through Wyoming in a wagon- the message clearly would have read, "You died of boredom".

Monday: 

We spent the last night in Portland at my Grandma Killian's house, and I got up early Monday morning (5a.m.-ish) to try to get ahold of the moving company that neither showed up or called all weekend, as scheduled.  5 hours later, when i was still waiting for a call back from the dispatcher, I decided it was time to leave (if we wer

e going to have any chance of making it to Boston by Friday morning)...so we stopped by the big yellow house one more time, then departed on our cross-country odyssey. 

this was one of my last views of the Rose City, and the beginning of Mom freaking out every time I took a picture while driving- it's called multi-tasking!

we were making good time, and much to my grandma's delight, switching drivers about every 2 hours. late in the afternoon, somewhere in northeastern oregon, Mom was driving, and i got accused of not telling her there wasn't much gas left. i wasn't worried, and thought we'd have plenty of gas to make it to Ontario, OR. 

 

she didn't feel like living on the

 edge, so she pulled off at some random (very) small town, and initally drove past the only gas station in town. in her defense, it was easy to miss. Oregon does have the one of the highest gas prices in the nation, but this was ridiculous- it was $4.35/gal! mom decided to put $10 in the tank (do the m

ath), and as we left, the girl who pumped our gas gave us the best directions back to the freeway. mom said, "she must have been able to tell we are out-of-towners," to which i replied, "that's because she knows all of the in-towners...and is probably related to at least 1/2 of them."

we finally made it to the sign that brings hope to the hopeless, "Welcome to Idaho". stopped for a quick dinner in boise, and headed for wyoming. dude, that state lasts forever! i think mom finally pulled over at 1:30 a.m., at somewhere called Fort Bridges. no motel for us- we slept in the car (and it won't be the last time)...

Tuesday:

no time to waste, Mom started driving again at 5 a.m., while i slept. i took over around 11ish, and she got some more rest. this is pretty much what she looked like when i was driving...

we stopped for one of our most common meals of the trip- the grilled asian chicken salad at mcdonald's- yumm...there just aren't that many options out there, in the middle of nowhere. mom showed off some of her navigational skills, as we prepared to hit nebraska. 

thus begins the 6 state tour of nothing but cornfields...seriously! who knew there could be so many states with nothing but corn and a dark green, leafy crop we later found out was soybean. nebraska, iowa, illinois, indiana, ohio, and new york (all except the city) are full of that stuff- it's crazy! i almost got lost in it...

one of my favorite stories from today (and possibly the whole trip) is what i now refer to as the FM2 story. out in the middle of nowhere, mom is scrolling through the stations looking for some olympics coverage. she is unsuccessful after scrolling through all of the AM and FM stations (which are few and far between in the middle of nowhere USA). not ready to give up, she asks, "do you have FM2?" i paused a minute, then said (trying not to laugh yet), "mom, do you know what FM2 is?" noting my are you serious?! tone, she sheepishly said, "umm, maybe not". at that point i lost it- i think i might have laughed continuously for 5 minutes before i could tell her that it's actually just another place to store pre-set FM stations, not a set of totally different stations. she said she thought maybe they had slightly different transmission signals on FM2. ...ah, mom- she's so cute- and great entertainment on a long road trip. 

we stopped at a diner called Penny's (like a real mid-america diner, maybe original from the 1950s), in Missouri Valley, Iowa, to have dinner with my cousins Kody & Jill. They rode the Harley to join us, and i had what is likely my first buffalo burger ever. it was pretty good, coming from a girl who prefers a good gardenburger to most other kinds of burgers. was fun to see some family along the way. btw, iowa is one of those other states that seems to go forever...we finally stopped around 10:30 ish just past Iowa City. no car sleeping for us that night- nope, we classed it up a bit with a room at the Days Inn. mom was thrilled to finally catch some Olympics action, and i was happy to have a real bed.

dr. seuss wisdom

sometimes wisdom comes from those who influenced us early in our life...that is true many times over in my life. the other morning, i came across a book by one of my favorite childhood authors, Dr. Seuss. this book was given to me, as it has been to many others, when i graduated from high school. i read it (and would be lying if i didn't get a little teary- go ahead, make fun), and found it to be particularly fitting

Oh, The Places You'll Go!

Congratulations!Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places! You're off and away!
You have brains in your head.You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own.
And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.
And you may not find any you'll want to go down.
In that case, of course, you'll head straight out of town.

It's opener therein the wide open air.
Out there things can happen and frequently do,
to people as brainy and footsy as you.
And when things start to happen, don't worry. Don't stew.
Just go right along.You'll start happening too.

OH! THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

You'll be on your way up!You'll be seeing great sights!
You'll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.
You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you'll be the best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don't, Because, sometimes, you won't.
I'm sorry to say so, but, sadly, it's true...and Hang-ups can happen to you.
You can get all hung upin a prickle-ly perch.
And your gang will fly on. You'll be left in a Lurch.
You'll come down from the Lurch with an unpleasant bump.
And the chances are, then, that you'll be in a Slump.
And when you're in a Slump, you're not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself is not easily done.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked.
A place you could sprain both you elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?
And IF you go in, should you turn left or right...or right-and-three-quarters?
Or, maybe, not quite? Or go around back and sneak in from behind?

Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find,
for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.
You can get so confused that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.

The Waiting Place...
...for people just waiting. Waiting for a train to goor a bus to come,
or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring,
or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.
Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil,
or a Better Break or a sting of pearls,
or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

NO! That's not for you!
Somehow you'll escape all that waiting and staying.
You'll find the bright places where Boom Bands are playing.
With banner flip-flapping, once more you'll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky.
Ready because you're that kind of a guy!

Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored. there are games to be won.
And the magical things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-est winner of all.
Fame! You'll be famous as famous can be,
with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Except when they don't. Because, sometimes, they won't.
I'm afraid that some times you'll play lonely games too.
Games you can't win 'cause you'll play against you.
All Alone! Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something you'll be quite a lot.
And when you're alone, there's a very good chance
you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.
There are some, down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much you won't want to go on.

But on you will go though the weather be foul
On you will gothough your enemies prowl
On you will gothough the Hakken-Kraks howl
Onward up many a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore and your sneakers may leak.
On and on you will hike and I know you'll hike far
and face up to your problemswhatever they are.

You'll get mixed up, of course, as you already know.
You'll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3 / 4 percent guaranteed.)
KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So...be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!

---Dr. Seuss